IA's managing editor, Dave Donovan, calls out the MSM over its failure to demand the resignation of Judge Dyson Heydon with TURC now seen as a complete turkey.

THERE ARE some things that are so apparent you don’t expect to need to say them. Issues that are so plain and clear that it is astounding that people employed to point out the bleeding obvious don’t do just that. I am talking, in the present instance, of course, about the need for Trade Union Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon to resign and the Canberra Press Gallery pundits' failure to call out loudly for that immediately.

The Canberra Press Gallery. That’s right. Them again.

The same geniuses that failed to see Julia Gillard’s Misogyny Speech for the sheer brilliance it was and who vilified her (a competent leader, imagine that) relentlessly.

The same clowns whose lack of scrutiny of Tony Abbott delivered this village idiot the prime ministership in 2013.

The same hopelessly compromised and politically captured Insiders we watch on the ABC on Sundays spouting their half-baked opinions and almost inevitably inaccurate predictions.

The same bunch of cronies, lackies, dimwits, halfwits, nitwits and sock puppets who shut IA out of the Press Gallery before the last election, for utterly spurious reasons, because we were telling the truth and showing up their incompetence and corruption. (We’ll be applying again soon, by the way, and it will be interesting to see what they come up with to deny us next time.)

PM Julia Gillard's misogyny speech was criticised by MSM but went viral globally with nearly 3 million views at last count.

I try not to read anything from the Canberra Press Gallery and nor should you, because absorbing their “feelpinions” will always leave you less informed and more stupid. And, based upon the fact petty, small-minded, suburban Sydney solicitor John Howard was elected over and over again – despite his deceit, bigotry, racism, human rights abuses, corruption and war crimes – it looks like they have weaved their “magic” on the Australian public. Ignore them, just like they ignore you.

You will be better off reaching your own conclusions, based upon the evidence in front of you, rather than listening to their ill-conceived drivel and being led astray. They will always try to ameliorate the obvious incompetence of the Abbott Gang because, in most cases, that it what their masters demand. They are simply not to be trusted.

So now, back to Dyson. It is obvious that Dyson should resign. Immediately. The Canberra Press Gallery will tell you that this is just Labor trying to over-egg the omelette and that actually he is an eminent “black letter of the law” jurist who could not possibly be compromised and is running a necessary inquiry into union corruption.

They say you never call an inquiry unless you know in advance what the findings will be. Well, the Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) was set up as a political witch hunt designed to ensure Tony Abbott’s re-election. It is spending $80 million in a time of apparent austerity simply to try to smear the Labor Party.

To this end, it called Julia Gillard over insubstantial 20 year-old rumours. She came, answered all the tedious, pointless questions and the Commission was left with egg all over its face. Because that didn’t work, Abbott decided to extend the kangaroo court for another year and it duly called Bill Shorten. With similar results. No evidence he had done anything wrong. More egg over its face. Not only that, but Heydon’s astounding intervention, calling into question Shorten’s credibility, belled the cat about his allegiances, in case anyone was in any doubt.

As for Dyson Heydon being an eminent jurist. Well, yes, he was on the High Court, appointed by John Howard in 2003. And, yes, he is a “black letter of the law” jurist. Meaning he will scrupulously apply the letter of the law – which obviously has a conservative bias – rather than attempt to apply it creatively to, you know, progress our society. The sort of person who, in the case of Justice Heydon, would apply a precedent from 1736 to rule that marital rape is not a crime. Really.

Just the sort of man you can imagine Tony Abbott could connect with. The right sort of man to clean up some grubby socialists in their place at an inquiry into trade unions.

But all that is really by the by. The reason Dyson Heydon should resign is because it is simply the right thing to do. The only thing to do. We can go into when he received what correspondence or what he knew when, but the reality is that if he didn’t know a well-known Sydney event (the annual Sir Garfield Barwick address) put on by Liberal Party lawyers year after year was not what it was a Liberal Party fundraiser, then he is either stupid or utterly out of touch.

Brandis said last night that it wasn’t a fundraiser, even though the invitation explicitly said it was raising money for Liberal Party’s NSW campaign fund, because it wasn’t going to raise “significant” amounts of money. What? Well, even if that’s true, it’s irrelevant. It’s a Liberal Party function — and when you are making millions presiding over a Liberal Party instigated Salem witch trial, you just can’t go around promoting the Liberal Party because they’re your mates.

It’s pretty damned obvious, but you won’t find the Canberra Press Gallery saying it. They won’t say it because their self-appointed role is to do everything in their power to mop up after the most incompetent, corrupt prime minister in Australian history in the vain attempt to portray him – and the gang of cartoonish villains behind him – as remotely re-electable.

There is an old saying (that Abbott’s chief of staff Peta Credlin famously mangled outside court) that you mustn’t just do the right thing, but you must be seen to be doing the right thing.

This was restated by an Australian High Court judge in 2011 with reference to the judicial system:

It is fundamental to the administration of justice that the judge be neutral. It is for this reason that the appearance of departure from neutrality is a ground of disqualification … because the rule is concerned with the appearance of bias, and not the actuality, it is the perception of the hypothetical observer that provides the yardstick.

That High Court judge was Dyson Heydon. The perception is that he is biased. He must resign today.

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Independent Australia is a progressive journal focusing on politics, democracy, the environment, Australian history and Australian identity. It contains news and opinion from Australia and around the world. [ read more ]